


Applied Sciences

by Computerbaby (orphan_account)



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Bickering, Biology vs Physics, Canon Disabled Character, Hermann and his need for approval from authority, Holiday Fic Exchange, Kissing, M/M, Newt and being an asshole to not be an asshole, Science discussion, Tumblr: pacrimholidayswap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-26
Updated: 2015-12-26
Packaged: 2018-05-09 09:44:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5535236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Computerbaby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So this was Newton Geiszler’s way of trying to diffuse some of Hermann’s anger. Arguing. Hermann can’t say that it was entirely inappropriate for their (working, he reminds himself) relationship in the least. </p><p>Written for the Pacific Rim Holiday Swap for tumblr user quantum-rei with the prompt "physics vs biology".</p>
            </blockquote>





	Applied Sciences

“C’mon Hermann, stop being such an ass about this!” Newton calls out after Hermann, who is currently storming down the hallway. “You act like it’s all my fault!”

 

“I do not want to hear it, Dr. Geiszler!” Hermann spits, not bothering to turn and look behind him. He’s flushed red with embarrassment and his right leg is protesting his brisk pace, but he tries to ignore it.

 

Hermann hears Newton’s boots clomping down the hallway after him. Even with Newton’s short legs, Hermann knows that he’s going to catch up to him before he reaches the elevator, and he’s going to make him talk about that that past nightmare of an afternoon.

 

 

The meeting with the PPDC officials had gone horridly – at least for Hermann.

 

Newton was fine, great even. The officials ate up everything Newton had to say about the vast differences in the physical features of the Kaiju and how they could be possible given that their internal structures are almost identical. He also had gotten to present the biology division’s latest findings on how the Kaiju, silicon-based life forms, are able to avoid the reaction with oxygen in the atmosphere that would essentially turn them into solids. Of course that would be exciting – “here’s why Kaiju don’t turn into rocks even though they probably should”. It’s interesting in a presentation, and Hermann doesn’t want to say it _now_ , but it’s entirely interesting even on paper. Even though Newton may not have any semblance of social graces when speaking one-on-one with others, he most certainly presents with passion when you get him on a stage with a slide show and a laser pointer.

 

Hermann’s work, however, was received far less enthusiastically. The presentation could not have come at a worse time, given that the physics division’s model of the Breach had been rendered obsolete just over a week before Hermann was supposed to get up in front of the board funding their research and explain what it was exactly they had accomplished this month.

 

Last Thursday, the geophysics section had brought in new data from the recent opening of the breach that had shut down their assumption that their data on the seismic activity from the past three attacks was _not_ an error in their instrumentation. The low energy release from Yamarashi’s emergence was originally considered a glitch in the equipment. When the same happened in May during the attack in Puerto San José, it was assumed that the equipment had been damaged or had become uncalibrated over time. After replacing the equipment and more thoroughly testing for its range of sensitivity, the same low readings had come back for the Kaiju Raythe’s emergence. The apparent anomalies in what thermal energy is being released by the Breach activity suddenly were not shaping up to be anomalies at all, but something inherently part of that impossible trench in the Pacific.

 

Hermann was left to present nothing other than how their past month of work had to be reworked on one of the most fundamental levels. Theories have been discussed non-stop since then, functions have been rewritten and revised and edited constantly, even new physical constants were proposed to account for this unheard of discrepancy, but nothing concrete was formed yet that has realistically _worked_. It was still all scrawled in pen in notepads, written in chalk on slate, coded in C++ and stored in massive CSV files.

 

And the PPDC officials wanted answers by the end of the month, not speculations.

 

 

“Hermann, you’re acting like a five year old!” Newton hollers after him, shrill voice echoing off the concrete and metal walls. “It just _happens_ like this sometimes, and you know that!”

 

Hermann tries not to respond. He’s too angry. Too ashamed. Too envious of the attention Newton had gotten from the attending marshals and officers. Congratulating him on the biology division – _his_ – work and only giving Hermann a solemn “we hope to hear more progress from your team in the near future”. He had kept a straight face until he and Newton were dismissed, but could take it no longer before storming away from him without any words.

 

Hermann walks into the elevator, jabs his finger onto the button labeled ‘L2’, and tries pressing the ‘close door’ button as many times as he can as if it would somehow make it shut faster. Unfortunately, Newton manages to squeeze into the elevator just as the doors were closing.

 

“Hermann, you… you’re being totally unreasonable about this!” Newton sounds entirely winded from his sprint after Hermann. “Not even giving me a ‘hey, congrats, Newt’, but instead getting all mad because –”

 

“I told you, Geiszler, I do not wish to speak with you.” Hermann grits out through his teeth. He hates when Newton knows these things about him – things he’d consider weaknesses.

 

“Yeah? Well, you’re acting like a little shit to me for stuff I didn’t even do wrong, so too bad – we’re going to be talking about it.” Newton huffs.

 

The elevator makes a _ping!_ sound as the doors open, and Hermann starts walking away briskly, fumbling the keys to his room out of his blazer pocket. Newton makes a noise sounding like the fusion of a growl and a sigh before marching after him.

 

“Can you – STOP?” Newton grabs Hermann by the shoulder to spin him around to face him as he’s just starting to unlock his door.

 

Hermann’s face is red and he’s gritting his teeth almost painfully, and he can’t tell if it’s more from embarrassment or rage. He glares at Newton, trying to come up with something to say. Does he shout at him? Jerk his arm free and slam the door in his face without a word? The longer Hermann has to be around anyone else, the worse the situation gets.

 

But Newton is staring back at him just as intensely with something that Hermann only now realizes is _concern_. It’s a rare face for Newton to be wearing, rare enough to the point that Hermann couldn’t even register it until just now. Newton isn’t the best at thinking of others first, and for as long as Hermann has known him, he’s never been one to show an excess of compassion when he’s profiting from something. Why has he decided that _now_ is the time to care?

 

Whatever his reason for it is, Hermann finds his anger ebbing away considerably.

 

 

Hermann swallows thickly and inhales deeply, closing his eyes. “Fine. But we’re not doing this in a public hallway, Dr. Geiszler. I will invite you in, but first, you will let go of my jacket.”

 

Newton raises his eyebrows, looking at him suspiciously. “How do I know you’re not going to run away into your room and shut the door in my face?”

 

The idea of doing just that is tempting, but Hermann tries to regain some bit of his lost composure. He bites the inside of his cheek, thinking. “… I will let you inside first.”

 

“You’re letting me into your room first? I don’t believe it.” Newt tightens his grip on Hermann’s coat and holds out his free hand. “If we’re going to do this, I’m unlocking the door for us, so hand it over, Hermann.”

 

Hermann looks at Newton’s face, down at his hand, then back again. Of course he would make this more difficult than it has to be. He begrudgingly drops the keys into Newton’s palm and steps aside. Newton continues to hold his tight grip on what loose fabric he could get his fist around on Hermann’s jacket until he’s marched both of them inside and shut the door behind them.

 

“Okay, Hermann. What’s your issue right now?” Newt’s voice is accusing and it only serves to make that anger that Hermann had just gotten to calm down start to rise again. “Was it the fact that you’re mad that I had something interesting to say to them? Or are you just mad that I got some praise or something?”

 

Hermann mentally cringes. Both of those are partially true and they sound incredibly, horridly immature now that they’re verbalized like that. The last thing he wants to do is admit to having felt these things, and he’s instantly regretting his agreement to talk about the matter.

 

“No. That… that is not it, Newton.” Hermann grits out through his teeth. “You’re an accomplished man – _you_ getting attention is not something I take issue with.”

 

“Then what _do_ you take issue with here? God, you were looking at me like you wanted to bite my head off or like you hated everyone in the room and wanting to zap us all with lasers that came out of your eyes and – ” Newton stops mid-sentence, looking deep in thought for a moment.

 

Hermann hates that Newton has already put it together.

 

“It wasn’t what did happen for me, but what _didn’t_ happen for you… is that it?” He asks slowly, almost uncertainly.

 

Hermann won’t let himself do anything else but nod minutely in the affirmative.

 

“Oh.”

 

 

They sit there, the last syllable hanging in the air awkwardly between them. Newt shifts around and puts his thumbs in his belt loops in his need to satisfy his fidgety urges. Hermann wishes that his bed would come to life and devour him. He has no idea what to say in defense of his juvenile behavior. It happened in the heat of the moment – a knee-jerk reaction.

 

“I mean. Your stuff _was_ cool, but not really as cool as mine,” Newt says nonchalantly, looking up at the ceiling. “You just gotta admit that biology is cooler than math-y physics-y stuff someday, dude.”

 

 

Hermann grimaces. And here he was thinking Newton Geiszler might actually try to say something not self-centered and possibly even something comforting.

 

Newt plops himself in Hermann’s desk chair, studying his frowning face. Newton smiles sneakily. “If you don’t agree, change my mind, Hermann.”

 

“If you plan to insult me or gloat, Newton, you can leave.” Hermann gestures his hand towards the door vaguely.

 

Newton scoots the wheeled chair closer to the bed until their knees are touching. He’s still wearing a shit-eating grin, but the rest of his face doesn’t scream ‘malice’. It makes Hermann’s stomach flop and his hands tense up.

 

Newt leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees, and his chin on his hands. “Change my mind, Dr. Gottlieb.”

 

 

So this was Newton Geiszler’s way of trying to diffuse some of Hermann’s anger. Arguing. Hermann can’t say that it was entirely inappropriate for their (working, he reminds himself) relationship in the least. Hermann finds himself willing to play along, reasoning even if it ends in Newton being a thorn in his side yet again, at least he would have better reason to be angry than ugly, childish envy.

 

Hermann clears his throat. “I believe you started this debate, Dr. Geiszler – where is your proof that biological sciences are more interesting than the physical sciences and mathematics? That’s a bold statement.”

 

Newt quirks an eyebrow up. “But did we not just observe people thinking my shit was cool, Dr. Gottlieb?” His voice is mockingly proper, and Hermann can’t decide if it’s amusing or annoying.

 

“But you had more complete conclusions to provide from your… as you would say, ‘shit’ to present. Had the physics department had more time, I’m certain it would have been received much more enthusiastically. After all, we’re looking at the very structure that makes your studies possible in the first place.” Hermann feels a small amount of his hurt pride recovering in his chest.

 

Newt smiles a little more at Hermann, looking ready to fuel the flames. “Yeah, but you wouldn’t have gotten all your data on how the Kaiju go through the Breach if we weren’t looking at the Kaiju themselves. Data on stuff like their actual size, weight, what conditions they’re able to survive being built how they are? All us. We’re the ones actually going out there and doing the footwork, dude. Going right into the face of danger in the name of science.”

 

Hermann almost allows himself to snort at that. “Well, we can’t all have a death wish, Dr. Geiszler. I’d rather keep myself alive in my studies and not covered in corrosive alien fluids.”

 

Newton rolls his eyes and makes a facetious scoff. “You’re just mad that you couldn’t even study something living if you tried, Hermann.”

 

“Excuse me? What is that supposed to mean?”

 

“Physicists can’t even keep particles alive long enough to study them, dude!” Newton snickers as if he had been saving that quip for ages. Hermann is confused by the strange warm sensation in his chest – it was meant to be a jab at him, after all. “It takes a lot of guts to be a biologist too, not just smarts, you know.”

 

“Oh yes, I’m well acquainted with the ‘guts’ you leave lying around all over the lab. I’m certain that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration would be absolutely _chuffed_ to see that Dr. Geiszler, who taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, puts potentially toxic substances on his coworker’s desk.” Hermann says, crossing his arms.

 

Newton bites his lip and goes silent for a second, allowing Hermann the momentary feeling of triumph. “And furthermore, most of what you go running off to do is based on wild estimations of how such random systems like animals and _monsters_ will behave.”

 

“Oh yes, please tell me more about my ‘wild estimations’, Dr. Spherical-Cow-Approximation,” Newton says, crossing his arms and leaning back. The speed Newton could swing from ‘somewhat ashamed’ to ‘smug bastard’ was phenomenal.

 

“That is from a joke, Dr. Geiszler, and is a very poor simplification of the work done by phy-”

 

“And you’re doing the same for biology, Herm! They don’t give out PhDs in biological sciences without making you go through physics and math classes. I mean, specialized, but it’s a really interdisciplinary field.” Newt uncrosses his arms from his chest to rest them behind his head and tilt back in the chair. The wood makes a concerning creaking noise beneath him.

 

Hermann stares as Newt scratches at the scruff of his chin before continuing. “And see, we don’t have to rely entirely on computer simulations to show us what things should look like – in our case, we get to see it happen whenever a new one pops out of the Breach! We can’t even see inside the thing, but you guys have a model done up for the inside. How do you know that it’s right? You got a lot up there on those boards and in those computers of yours, but how do you _know_? I think you’re the ones with the wild estimations, Herm.”

 

“That’s _Hermann_ or _Dr. Gottlieb_ to you. And if you had a more solid foundation in theoretical physics and had looked more into applied mathematics, you would _know_ why it should work. On a larger scale, the universe is far more structured than the chaotic systems you concern yourselves with. There are rules that we see things follow, things like conservation laws for momentum and energy, inverse square laws for intensities, entropy, and we even have principals for things being uncertain – I trust you get the picture here, Newton.”

 

Hermann crosses his legs carefully, avoiding Newton’s shins, lest he knock him over and potentially break either Newton or the chair. “When you understand the underlying mathematical structures we see in our universe, you can trust that it is possible to model these things in a way that will be in accordance with these structures. Mathematics can encompass models that come just based on analysis of theory and logic, or induction, and although induction is your strong suit, mathematics and physics has a level of consistency that biological sciences could only dream of achieving.”

 

Newton looks Hermann up and down once, mistakenly guessing that he wouldn’t notice. “But you still didn’t answer the question – how do you know everything is going to work the way you planned?”

 

“How do you know that slicing into some organ won’t start spewing out some sort of acid that will burn straight through your gloves and skin or the metal or plastic of the machinery you use on it?” Hermann counters, raising his brow and waiting for Newt to respond.

 

When the silence stretches for too long, Hermann clears his throat. “We have to see how well it works. You’ll never know how accurate it is until you have something to compare it to, or products left from the process that you can trace back to what you constructed. I suppose that this is our own way of being ‘reckless’ with our work when it comes to application. Much less personal endangerment, but nonetheless, we end up having to wait for the next attack – for more data – to push forward.”

 

 

Hermann can see that Newton is fighting off the beginnings of a smile at the sides of his mouth. It makes Hermann’s stomach feel like it has tied itself in a knot. 

 

“Feeling less pissed about that meeting?” Newton asks, looking Hermann in the eyes.

 

Why had Newton done this? Newton could have very well have left after his “oh” moment and left Hermann to throw his childish tantrum alone in his room in an undignified manner. Instead, he decides to rehash one of their arguments that they’ve pestered each other with for years, and sit there looking like the cheeky, frustrating pain-in-the-arse he is.

 

The part of Hermann he’d like to strangle and throw into a lake wishes that Newton was doing this because some part of him cares about Hermann in a manner deeper than “colleagues” and “academic peers” and “an old pen pal that I used to consider a friend but managed to end up hating and now live to annoy at every moment I possibly can”. As much as the man infuriates him, he still finds himself having disgusting feelings for him. Fond feelings that make everything complicated and would force him to have one of the world’s most awkward conversations with Newton, and that’s not the priority now. Feelings aren’t what Newton and himself are in the PPDC for. They had a chance at a positive personal relationship years ago and managed to destroy it almost instantly upon meeting face-to-face.

 

Hermann swallows, and he hopes it isn’t audible. He shouldn’t be wasting his time speculating like a teenager over what Dr. Geiszler thinks of him. “I… Yes. I suppose that I am.”

 

Newton leans himself forward again and fidgets with his hands. Hermann swears his face is closer than it was earlier.

 

“Aaand, what you’re saying is that what makes physics so cool is that there’s a really strong structure all behind it, right?” Hermann nods in response.

 

There’s more silence between them. Hermann can hear pilots and crew members shouting outside on their way back to their barracks, and Newt looks like the gears in his head are working at full capacity. He’s looking down at Hermann’s feet in the same manner as he would a particularly complex piece of Kaiju-whatever.

 

Hermann opens his mouth to say something to break the silence, but suddenly Newton’s hand is on his knee. The abrupt contact makes Hermann jump, and the hairs on the back of Hermann’s neck stand on end.

 

“Y’know, uh, working in biology makes you get an appreciation for structures. I mean, we kind of meet you halfway in chemistry, but most of what I’m concerned with is what comes during and after that, though. Stuff like genetics, biosynthesis – lots of complex systems with a shitload of microscopic living things making up the macroscopic living things. You keep layering on stuff like what environment one thing needs to survive, then what environment another thing needs to survive, and then how both of them can come together and survive, and… and for some reason words are just not coming out right. Shit.” Newt swears and looks away. “That probably made no sense, like how unspecific can you get, right? Maybe I used up all my coherence for the day already at that meeting – that sounds like something that’d happen to me, right? Fuck.”

 

Hermann can feel how nervous Newton is just from the shaking of his hand on his knee. Newton’s hand, even though unsteady, is warm and is fulfilling some annoying, buried desire for physical contact inside Hermann. Coupled with the already confusing emotions this entire moment had dragged up, when Newton went to move his hand away, Hermann put his own on top of it.

 

“It is fine. Continue, Dr. Geiszler.” Hermann considers it a small victory that the words managed to come out of his mouth without his voice catching or shaking. However, the burning heat he feels traveling up his neck, face, and ears already tells him that he’s turned blotchy and red over this. Already, emotions were making both of them into a mess. “Structure?”

 

Newton takes a moment before speaking again, and Hermann notices that Newton’s face is slightly more flushed than usual as well. He was just telling himself how inappropriate his own feelings towards his lab mate and colleague were - and they still obviously are – but if Newton’s behavior is indicating anything, it’s that perhaps there’s some chance that both of them are being unprofessional towards each other.

 

“So, uh, what I’m trying to say is that sometimes, when I’m over here doing my thing, I’m always looking at structures that are basic in respect to life as an isolated thing, but it’s not very often that I really think about all the stuff that goes on under the hood in the universe like your work does.” Newt’s hand squeezes a bit around his knee, sliding itself upward slightly to his lower thigh. Hermann’s heart races – this is absolutely, _undeniably_ unprofessional. “And I guess it’s something I have to look into more if I’m going to make any big judgements right?”

 

Hermann can’t stop staring at Newton’s hand and can’t bring himself to look him in the eye. “I suppose I could say that the systems you look at are a bit out of the scope of my studies. I look at the very large, and the very small, and tend to lack a good deal of the things between.”

 

“Exactly, so. I guess we could share a little more about what kind of structures we look at in our work a bit more, uh, in detail. I guess you could say… intimately?” Newton’s voice is low, but manages to crack at the end of his question.

 

 

A fourth long silence manages to feel like an eternity before Newton speaks up again.

“… And when I say ‘share about structures in our work’, I mean ‘make out or something’ because I was kind of getting that vibe like since a few minutes ago, and if the answer is no, I’m probably going to have to skip out on you to go talk to the Marshal about getting assigned somewhere else, because I –”

 

Hermann’s resolve to not allow himself to be messy and emotional finally snaps entirely and he presses his mouth to Newton’s – damn his feelings, making him act irrationally and irresponsibly. His lips are closed when it presses to Newton’s half-open ones and he can feel Newton’s teeth against his lips, and God, it’s atrociously awkward. All of Hermann’s suspicions about ‘living in the moment’ being a bunch of absolute shit are instantly confirmed.

 

He jerks his head back, which also manages to be a mistake, as the sudden movement pinches something in his neck that makes him hiss in pain. Newton hasn’t moved and is looking at him in what Hermann assumes is shock, and although it gives him time to formulate his apology in a manner that might salvage the situation, Newton’s stillness somehow makes it worse. Of course he would manage to botch up something like this.

 

Hermann stutters out the beginnings of an apology, but Newt cuts him off with a disbelieving laugh. “Dude. Hermann. I’m not going to lie to you, that was terrible, but… holy shit. Holy shit. You did that first. You legit did that first.”

 

Hermann bites the inside of his cheek and shifts uncomfortably when Newton runs his hand through his carefully mussed hair. He mumbles as he says, “This is precisely why I don’t go rushing off on impulse, Dr. Geiszler – stop laughing.”

 

“I’m not laughing at you, I’m just fucking happy, man!” Newton puts his hands on Hermann’s cheeks and brings their faces closer together. “I was so sure I was going to be the one who screwed up, because statistically, someone was _bound_ to fuck this one up, but nope, it was you! What a relief!”

 

Hermann is mildly disappointed, but not surprised that Newton could manage to be such an ass even during something as utterly personal, not to mention mortifying, as this. “That helps absolutely nothing, Dr. Geiszler.”

 

Newton grabs at Hermann’s cheeks, stretching his frown further across his lips. “No, dude! Dude, stop calling me “doctor” after you just smooch on my teeth. This is great, because now we got that awkward shit out of the way.”

 

Hermann squints. “What on earth are you talking about?”

 

“Now we can jump right in to me showing you how a biologist knows structure… if you know what I mean.” Newton waggles his eyebrows and it’s so horridly cheesy that Hermann has to avert his eyes. “You up for it now?”

 

“Only if you stop moving your eyebrows in that ridiculous manner, and stop tugging on my face, you twit.” Hermann huffs as he swats at one of Newton’s hands. “And you’re not allowed to speak of… the first attempt. It is clearly an outlier.”

 

“I’m going to need more data points to determine that, dude. What kind of mathematician are you?” Newton snorts. “Now, c’mere, you grumpy asshole.”

 

Newton puts his hand on the back of Hermann’s neck and fits their lips together. Hermann makes a displeased noise, but his entire lower half feels as if it has turned into gelatin. Newton’s touch is firm, and as Hermann expected, his kissing is overeager. In no less than seven seconds into the kiss, he’s trying to work Hermann’s mouth open with his own, and Hermann makes an embarrassing noise in the back of his throat. Thankfully, when Newton manages to slip his tongue into Hermann’s mouth, he’s the one to make a shuddery whimpering sound, and Hermann lets himself pull Newton off the wooden chair to kiss properly without having to crane their necks to reach each other. Newton takes this as invitation to put his legs on either side of Hermann’s and crawl onto his lap, and Hermann makes a surprised sound and tenses up momentarily.

 

“Mind where you put yourself, Newton. I’m certain you know the circumstances here.” Hermann warns, pulling away momentarily. He makes a short glance downward, where flare ups of pain tend to be the worst.

 

Newton is flushed and stares at Hermann with his eyes half-lidded and pupils wider than Hermann thought was physically possible. Heat shoots to his groin at the way Newton looks at him with so much desire, a look Hermann rarely receives for a myriad of reasons. He tries to ignore it – this isn’t the right time.

 

“Yeah, yeah, of course, Herm. Is it all good right now?” Newt asks in a breathy voice, shifting around and getting himself more comfortable.

 

“I’d tell you if it wasn’t. I may have wanted to do this for… some amount of time, but I’m not going to suffer through it to make it happen,” Hermann scoffs, and Newt laughs a little in return before pulling him in again.

 

They stay like that for a while, and Hermann focuses mainly on the sighing breaths coming from Newton. The sound, combined with the heat radiating from his body against his own lulls Hermann into an odd, peaceful state. He knows that afterwards this will lead to many questions and stressful amounts of introspection, but for now, he puts it aside.

 

 

Newton breaks away and looks at him in a fond sort of way. Even more than the kissing, this makes Hermann’s face flush again and Newt laughs a bit.

 

“Your ears get all red when you blush, Hermann.” He pinches one gently and Hermann almost opens his mouth, but is interrupted before he can say anything. “You can thank vasodilation for that. It happens when your vascular resistance decreases, and you’ve generally got a lot more blood vessels in your face in comparison to the rest of you, and they’re a lot closer to the surface of your skin – not to mention wider… at least on your cheeks and stuff.” Newt punctuates this by rubbing his thumb on Hermann’s cheek.

 

Newt strokes down Hermann’s neck and Hermann shivers. “Looks like you also get red on your neck too. It’s really neat, don’t worry. Probably means you’d get hickeys really easily, though.”

 

Newton dips his head down to press his lips to Hermann’s throat, eliciting a squawk from the other man. “Newton Geiszler, you will _not_ give me a hickey!”

 

“I’d let you do me after, though.” Newton offers. “Matching burst blood vessels, Hermann!”

 

“Absolutely not!” Hermann frowns. “How unprofessional would it be to come into the lab all bruised like that?”

 

“Dude, what about _any_ of this is professional?” Newton asks, gesturing to their current position.

 

Hermann bites his lip. “Point taken. But I do not feel like having to deal with the trouble of constantly making sure it’s hidden.”

 

“Your shirts have buttons for a reason, Hermann. I can put it a little lower,” Newton says, nuzzling. His scruff rubs against the sensitive skin in a way Hermann isn’t sure he likes or dislikes quite yet.

 

Hermann thinks about it. Were the circumstances of their relationship different, he wouldn’t be opposed, but there’s still too much that is unclear about where this will lead them. If things were to go sour, Hermann would rather not have a reminder for a week or more of the incident that botched a working partnership with the only man who seems to be able to keep up with him. It would fade eventually, but he’d rather not have that to dwell upon.

 

 

“… Perhaps next time.” Hermann’s stomach flips at the words. He’s implying that a next time _will_ happen, and the words are odd to hear from his own mouth.

 

 “Yeah. Yeah, next time.” He nods into the crook of Hermann’s neck. Hermann can feel Newton smiling. “Just like next time, you’re gonna have another chance at making a kickass presentation. Still not as cool as mine, but, you know.”

 

“Was that a compliment there, Dr. Geiszler, or was this just a way to stroke your own ego?” Hermann rolls his eyes.

 

“You still have to convince me that your physics-y stuff has badassery greater than or equal to biology’s,” Newt says, removing his face from the juncture of Hermann’s shoulder and neck. “I mean, just because I said I could learn more about it doesn’t prove that it’s all _that_ cool. Pretty sure you can’t explain any of what just happened with physics – but I already got us started with biology.”

 

Hermann searches his brain for a moment, and Newt looks at him with that ridiculous, satisfied grin on his face. He doesn’t know if he wants to slap or kiss it off of him. He clears his throat in hopes that it will help him steady his voice. 

 

“Then, shall I describe –” Hermann interrupts himself by pressing their lips together again and sliding a hand over the front of Newton’s shirt “– how it is possible for me to rest my hand on your chest and for us to remain separate bodies?”

 

“Pauli exclusion principal. I took a fuckton of chemistry and you bet your ass I took quantum mechanics.”

 

“It’s still physics regardless if you already knew it or not, Newton,” Hermann says, rolling his eyes. “Seeing as you already know the very small, let’s talk about the very large. Where should we start…? The Friedmann equations? Geodesics? The field equations of general relativity?”

 

Newton rests his elbow on Hermann’s shoulder, resting his cheek on his hand. “How about… you just tell me all your new theories on the Breach? The stuff you couldn’t tell those dudes at the meeting because you don’t got a consensus yet.” Newton’s hand runs through Hermann’s short hair. “I got to show off my cool results today – I want to know what’s coming up next from you, Hermann. Or shall I say, _Dr. Gottlieb_?”

 

Hermann smiles a little. “If you insist, Dr. Geiszler.”

**Author's Note:**

> Happy holidays to quantum-rei! I hope this was what you were looking for! 
> 
> I've been in a rut with writing for a while, and this was such a nice prompt to get.


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